:burning man doesn't build itself:
so.
every summer i work for The Man. the Burning Man.
i can't exactly explain what that means. i can't rightly explain what Burning Man is. one of the best descriptions i've come across describes it as -
"a temporary experiment in radical self-reliance and radical self-expression"
i usually use the words Art, Music, People, Event, Desert, and Community most to describe what goes on. it's hard to pinpoint the feeling of the place.
if you still don't get a good picture check THIS.
i, along with some damn good people, run the box office.. one of the few aspects of burning man that has to keep their business suits on.. kind of.. we sell tickets and hold tickets for will call.. we handle money and tickets.. we get to meet a lot of the people attending the event.. (which reaches somewhere around 25,000+ each year..)
we're the first cats you see on the playa (that is, if you don't have a ticket already) and hopefully provide the first good experience once your feet hit dirt. we try. sometimes things don't work out. sometimes your name isn't on the list, sometimes you've lost your tickets on 17 hour drive from canada, sometimes you don't have enough cash to buy a ticket. but we try to make stress like that as pleasant as possible.
(although i've had a few nasty run-ins with unhappy folks. i've turned people away. i've had arguments. i've been called a fascist capitalist pig. it's not all candy canes and rainbows, that's for sure.)
but. to explain the photos. before we've rented box office buildings and created our workspace and torn it down over the few weeks we're out on the playa. not this year. this year we've decided to take it on ourselves to create a building we can reuse year after year, a building that's all our own.. and it will definitely feel this way.. because we've built it from scratch.. we started out with a shipping container..
SpinCycle and Thorny cut the windows and designed the overall layout of the place.. not to mention cutting the boards for the floor and countertop..
when i made the trip out to the work ranch, i didn't know exactly what i was getting into.. i was told to wear clothes i would feel comfortable getting lacquered.. i spent the day learning how to do various constructiony things i didn't have a clue about before.
here's a list of things i couldn't do:
1. put a new tube of liquid nails into the liquid nail dispenser thing
2. put a socket on the socket wrench
3. use a screwdriver with my left hand while holding a board up with my right
4. use the right saw terminology. i kept using the wrong descriptors. i don't know jig from skill.
well. i basically demonstrated my complete lack of knowledge for all things construction.
but it was good. it was nice to get out onto the black rock desert. it was nice to be greeted by metric (sole proprietor and keeper of the burning man ranch).. it was a nice reminder of why i go out every summer and help and work with the bm folks.
but we have a lot of work to do.
every summer i work for The Man. the Burning Man.
i can't exactly explain what that means. i can't rightly explain what Burning Man is. one of the best descriptions i've come across describes it as -
"a temporary experiment in radical self-reliance and radical self-expression"
i usually use the words Art, Music, People, Event, Desert, and Community most to describe what goes on. it's hard to pinpoint the feeling of the place.
if you still don't get a good picture check THIS.
i, along with some damn good people, run the box office.. one of the few aspects of burning man that has to keep their business suits on.. kind of.. we sell tickets and hold tickets for will call.. we handle money and tickets.. we get to meet a lot of the people attending the event.. (which reaches somewhere around 25,000+ each year..)
we're the first cats you see on the playa (that is, if you don't have a ticket already) and hopefully provide the first good experience once your feet hit dirt. we try. sometimes things don't work out. sometimes your name isn't on the list, sometimes you've lost your tickets on 17 hour drive from canada, sometimes you don't have enough cash to buy a ticket. but we try to make stress like that as pleasant as possible.
(although i've had a few nasty run-ins with unhappy folks. i've turned people away. i've had arguments. i've been called a fascist capitalist pig. it's not all candy canes and rainbows, that's for sure.)
but. to explain the photos. before we've rented box office buildings and created our workspace and torn it down over the few weeks we're out on the playa. not this year. this year we've decided to take it on ourselves to create a building we can reuse year after year, a building that's all our own.. and it will definitely feel this way.. because we've built it from scratch.. we started out with a shipping container..
SpinCycle and Thorny cut the windows and designed the overall layout of the place.. not to mention cutting the boards for the floor and countertop..
when i made the trip out to the work ranch, i didn't know exactly what i was getting into.. i was told to wear clothes i would feel comfortable getting lacquered.. i spent the day learning how to do various constructiony things i didn't have a clue about before.
here's a list of things i couldn't do:
1. put a new tube of liquid nails into the liquid nail dispenser thing
2. put a socket on the socket wrench
3. use a screwdriver with my left hand while holding a board up with my right
4. use the right saw terminology. i kept using the wrong descriptors. i don't know jig from skill.
well. i basically demonstrated my complete lack of knowledge for all things construction.
but it was good. it was nice to get out onto the black rock desert. it was nice to be greeted by metric (sole proprietor and keeper of the burning man ranch).. it was a nice reminder of why i go out every summer and help and work with the bm folks.
but we have a lot of work to do.
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